ABSTRACT
We do not need to be reminded of the pending environmental disaster that awaits us as a planet. The causes of this disaster are also fairly universally accepted. They are to do with the way in which we are exploiting our natural resources and what we are doing, as a result, to the earth and the atmosphere. It is common knowledge too that many kinds of modern technologies — for example, those that are dependent on fossil fuel — are contributing to this crisis. What is not often spoken about, however, are the kinds of attitudes that have given rise to this crisis. What is behind the modern worldview that shapes these attitudes? What are the postures towards the world, or what Heidegger calls our way of being-in-the-world (1996: 88), that causes us to use it in such a way that simply extracts, denudes and pollutes without offering anything in return? And what is the difference between this way of being in the world and an anti-modern, pre-modern or primordial way of being in the world which leaves a lighter footprint on the environment? And if so what are the implications of this on our philosophies of life?
